D E P A R T M E N T O F J U S T I C E O F F I C E O F J U S T I C E P R O G R A M S B J A N I J O J J D P B J S O V C U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Shay Bilchik, Administrator September 1999 Family Disruption and Delinquency Terence P. Thornberry, Carolyn A. Smith, Craig Rivera, David Huizinga, and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber From the Administrator Despite a multitude of happy excep- tions, it is a sad truth that children in families disrupted by divorce or separation have a greater chance of exhibiting problem behavior, including delinquency, than children being raised by two parents. This Bulletin examines the impact that multiple changes in family structure have on an adolescent’s risk of serious problem behavior. Research teams in 3 cities interviewed 4,000 youth and their caretakers to analyze the prevalence of delinquent behaviors and drug use and the number of family transitions the youth had experienced. The researchers found that these young people had faced a substantial number of family transitions, which can result in decreased financial security and increased stress and conflict. In Rochester, NY, and Denver, CO, the number of transitions had a significant effect on delinquency and drug use, with the Pittsburgh, PA, data showing the same trend, although not at a statistically significant level. The findings reported here add to our knowledge about families and children at risk and give us a broader understanding of delinquency and its causes. Society cannot guarantee an intact, stable family for every child, but we can—and must—make every effort to counteract the negative effects of family disruption. Shay Bilchik Administrator This Bulletin is part of the Office of Ju- venile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Youth Development Series, which presents findings from the Program of Re- search on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency. Teams at the University at Albany, State University of New York; the University of Colorado; and the University of Pittsburgh collaborated extensively in designing the studies. At study sites in Rochester, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the three research teams have interviewed 4,000 participants at regular intervals for a decade, recording their lives in detail. Findings to date indicate that preventing delinquency requires accurate identifica- tion of the risk factors that increase the likelihood of delinquent behavior and the protective factors that enhance positive adolescent development. The composition of families is one aspect of family life that is consistently associated with delinquency. Children who live in homes with only one parent or in which marital relationships have been disrupted by divorce or separation are more likely to display a range of emo- tional and behavioral problems, including delinquency, than children from two- parent families (Wells and Rankin, 1991). Since 1970, the proportion of American households that have children who live with both parents has declined substantially. In 1970, 64 percent of African American chil- dren lived with two parents, compared with 35 percent in 1997; comparable figures for white children are 90 percent and 74 percent, respectively (Lugaila, 1998). According to some estimates, as many as 40 percent of white children and 75 percent of African American children will experience parental separation or divorce before they reach age 16 (Bray and Hetherington, 1993) and many of these children will experience multiple family disruptions over time (Furstenberg and Cherlin, 1991). As alarming as these figures are, they do not address the impact of family transitions on individual children. These transitions can set into motion changes in residence, financial conditions, family roles, and relationships along with in- creased stress and conflict in the home. All of these factors have major implica- tions for children’s adjustment (Bumpass and Sweet, 1989; Shaw, Emery, and Tuer, 1993). While some studies have found that the number of family transitions is linked to delinquency (Capaldi and Patterson, 1991; Fergusson, Horwood, and Linsky, 1992), there is little information on the impact of multiple family transitions on serious adolescent problem behavior such as delinquency and drug use,
Family Disruption and Delinquency
Aug 03, 2023
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